Freeing the Dragon
by jsharpminor
Summary: Chapter 1 of 3 completed, approx 20 in total.    Chihiro is at her new school, and misses Haku. She'd like to go back to the spirit world, but does it still exist? And what would happen if she did? And will she meet Haku again?
1. Chapter 1: A New School

"Chihiro?"

"Chihiro?" the question repeated.

Chihiro zoomed back from the flight of fancy she had allowed herself to go on, and suddenly found herself in her schoolroom, with all eyes upon her as she sat nervously at her desk.

"Do you know the answer? You raised your hand."

Chihiro suddenly became aware of this, and looked up to see that her hand was, indeed, raised. She put it down to the noise of muffled giggles from the rest of the class as she started to blush bright red.

"Yes, Yoko-san," said Chihiro's friend Yui, coming quickly to the rescue from her seat behind Chihiro. "Emperor Meiji succeeded Emperor Kōmei, the last Emperor of the Edo Period."

"Very good, Yui," continued Yoko-san, as she continued the lecture. "And what, from your reading, was the major accomplishment of Emperor Meiji?"

Chihiro slumped down into her seat, and vowed to pay more attention. The class dragged on for what seemed like days.

Finally, the bell rang for class to be dismissed, and lunch to begin. Students from all over the low two-story school building scampered to collect books and bags, as the daily commotion got underway.

"Do you want to sit with us for lunch today?" invited Ayano, one of the other girls.

"Thank you," replied Chihiro graciously, "but I am meeting with Yui to study for our test in classical literature tomorrow." As Ayano turned around, her interest quickly darted to another schoolmate, a boy whose attention she'd been trying to get for weeks. Soon, three of her friends had joined her, giggling as they discussed trends, boys, and everything else.

Chihiro sighed as she stared blankly after Ayano's fussing crowd for a moment. Chihiro was a tomboy, klutzy and not graceful like some of the other girls. And while she definitely didn't see the point in chasing every boy who walked the hallways, she had to admit to herself that, well, sometimes...

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important!" joked Yui as she playfully gave Chihiro a jab.

"No, I was just thinking."

"Ah!" Yui chuckled. "You always seem to be thinking. For a girl who so emphatically denies being a romantic, you really seem to get lost in thought a lot!"

Chihiro gave her a quizzical stare that broke into a smile. Yui was the romantic, if anything. Chihiro was not. Yui probably would have loved to be in the other group, giggling about the latest fads, fashions, and crushes, but her thick-rimmed glasses and plain shoes gave her away as someone whose parents didn't have the means to always buy their way into the in-crowd. But for all of that, Yui had been a real trooper: the first person to really make a connection with Chihiro since she had started at her new school three months ago. Sure, the rest of the school was exceptionally nice, but few really bothered to make deep connections. As it turned out, Chihiro and Yui got along quite well, despite the constant accusations of romanticism. Chihiro put up with these, and in return, Yui put up with sometimes playing the part of Chihiro's tutor. And on weekends, they sometimes went on trips to the beach or other places together.

"Yui, I've been thinking."

"Mm-hmm?" Yui smiled, anxious to be let in on any secret thoughts.

"Do... could... " Chihiro trailed off, seemingly unable to form a sentence. She was unsure of whether to tell Yui about her recent fantastic experience. She had always figured that no one would believe her.

"Yes?" prodded Yui, eager for more information.

Chihiro stared off into space again, just saying, "Nevermind," as a peaceful smile crept over her features.

"Okay," Yui shrugged. She was disappointed, but not the sort of person to let such a thing ruin her day. When Chihiro was ready, she figured, she'd hear it eventually. "Wasn't that a lovely concert on saturday?"

Chihiro scowled deeply, almost as if the mere mention exposed her to the noise all over again. "I'm glad you considered it lovely," she said with considerable pain, "but next time, you could just spare me, dontcha think?"

"Tut-tut-tut!" scolded Yui. "Okay, you win. You're not a romantic at all." Yui laughed. Chihiro smiled, knowing that that concession would last maybe five minutes. "You have no appreciation for fine art!"

Chihiro looked at Yui as if she were crazy. "Fine art?" she almost yelled. She had had such a hard time persuading her parents to allow her to attend the concert in the first place, and now she wished that she hadn't been successful. For all their commonalities, music and the arts was an area about which Chihiro and Yui had considerable disagreement. "The only fine thing about that concert was leaving."

"Oh, come on," Yui prodded. "You were just disappointed that they didn't have the sterilized quality of the groups you hear on the radio. There's no imagination there, you know. A lot of the styles they listen to," she said, indicating her fellow students, "are directly copied from Western music. Saturday was a chance to see _real_ artists practicing their craft!"

Chihiro was almost laughing, but held it back for just long enough. "I'll show _you_ an artist practicing a craft!" she said as she gave Yui a playful shove.

Yui laughed and shoved back, and their shoving match carried on in some form or another until they reached the cafeteria.

* * *

><p>Chihiro was so deep in thought over her geometry that she didn't even hear her mother enter the room. She jumped when she suddenly saw her mother's shadow descend over her book.<p>

"I'm sorry to startle you, but I wanted to talk to you," said Mrs. Ogino. She settled gently onto the bed by Chihiro's desk, and said, "Your teacher called today."

"Oh," and with that Chihiro glumly folded her arms onto the back of her chair and rested her chin on them as she turned to face her mother. "What did she want?"

"She said that you've been trailing off during school again."

"Oh," repeated Chihiro. "Yeah, I suppose I did."

Mrs. Ogino leaned in closer and put a hand on Chihiro's face. "It's just that that has me worried. It's not like you to be daydreaming or constantly in another world. What's going on? You've been acting strange since we moved here." As if to emphasize the changing seasons, a brown leaf took just that opportunity to float in from the slightly open window by her desk. Chihiro turned around and stood just enough to pull the window closed. The trees outside were nearly out of leaves, and winter would be on the town soon. "Chihiro? Don't avoid the question. I've asked just about everything I know to ask. I had figured that you'd tell me if there was a boy you liked, but I'm going to have to ask now. Who is it?" At this she started to smirk. "Come on, you can tell me."

Chihiro smiled distantly, but shook her head. "There's nobody that I like."

Her mother was visibly frustrated by this. "Not even a tiny crush? I see the boys that walk by as you go into the school." Her tone perked and she teased, "Some of them are really handsome!"

Chihiro laughed at this just a little. "No," and she became serious again. "That's not it," she reassured her mother.

Although she was satisfied that she had received the truth about boys, Mrs. Ogino still wanted to press on and find the problem. "So there is something, then?"

"It's nothing. Probably just a phase, right?" Chihiro chuckled nervously, hoping this might get her out of a lengthy explanation. It didn't work.

"This phase," said her mother sternly, "is affecting your schooling."

"But, Mom," pleaded Chihiro, "I'm still getting good marks!"

"Yes," conceded her mother, "your marks are good..." but after a moment, the sternness returned: "but not as good as they could be!" Chihiro was visibly put off by this last statement, and turned away. Her mother reached out a tender hand to her shoulder, and asked one final time, care evident in her tone. "Can't you tell me what's going on?"

Chihiro paused a long moment.

She contemplated, and finally decided to speak.

"Remember the day we moved here?"

"Yes? What about it?"

"Remember how the movers beat us to our house? By a full week?" The last two words had a nearly sarcastic emphasis.

"So? You know that we visited your aunt during that time, and we also stopped in Tokyo for a few days. Don't you remember seeing Shibuya Ward at night? You were so amazed by the bright lights, and how it looked like daylight even after dark!" Mrs. Ogino smiled at the memory, but then moved on. "Your father never could quite figure out what happened with our schedule, but," she sighed, "the movers did what we paid them to do." She paused and added, "I don't see what that has to do with your studies, though."

Chihiro made the decision to attempt, for only the second time, to tell her mother the story of her experiences in the bathhouse. The first time, she had been cut off before she was able to say much of anything, and hadn't tried again. She offered, "Haven't you ever wondered how you guys managed to misplace six days?"

"I wondered a bit at first," admitted Mrs. Ogino, "but then I had just figured that we were having so much fun during our moving week...that..." She trailed off, obviously unable to reconcile the facts she knew with the reality she couldn't accept.

"Are you ready for a long story?"

* * *

><p>"Helloooo! Does anybody live here?" Mr. Ogino announced his arrival back at the house. He seemed to be in a surprisingly good humor.<p>

"Just a second, honey! I'm having a talk with Chihiro!" Rolling back over, she said, "Now, what were you saying?"

Chihiro continued. In the better part of an hour that she had been talking, they had both taken up a more comfortable position on Chihiro's bed. As her mother sprawled out at the end of the bed, Chihiro sat near her pillow with her knees supporting her folded arms. "I was telling you about the train ride to Swamp Bottom." And then she added with mild frustration, "The sixth stop."

"Ohhh, you!" chuckled Mrs. Ogino playfully, as she wriggled up the bed to plant a kiss on her daughter's cheek. "I was hoping you'd get to the part where you rescued me and your father from being, what was it, frogs?"

"Pigs, Mom," Chihiro flatly intoned.

"Pigs!" her mother laughed. "Of course!" She embraced Chihiro in a motherly hug. She took her daughter's hand and beamed. "I know what you should do. You should be an author! Where did you ever get such an imagination?" Sobering a bit, she added, "Let's go see your father."

"Okay, you go ahead. I'll be down in a minute."

Chihiro was down a few minutes later, but not before using a tissue on her eyes.

* * *

><p>The woods were quiet, and so was the path. The last time Chihiro had been on this path, a silver Audi had been causing a racket that would have made a mountain tremble. She passed the torii, and headed down a path that she had positively refused to take on any other day.<p>

But today was different. Something in her mother's words made her need this path, made her long for it, and refused to let go of her until she had traversed it.

The path grew darker as she passed ever deeper into the woods, and she noticed an embankment that had flown by so quickly that she'd barely observed it. Chihiro was propelled, not by her own whim or desire, but by fate itself. She could no more turn back her path than she could turn back a clock. Past a familiar statue in the woods, over a small creek, and finally the woods broke to reveal a small double-faced statue, covered with moss, in front of a red plaster building.

The building looked old enough, but her father had identified it as new construction that had only recently been abandoned. Chihiro nearly sprinted through the tunnel, finding an open room with benches and columns spread throughout.

Chihiro leaned on one of the columns, weary from her near-sprinting, and heard the faintest whistle of a train.

Chihiro walked through the room and out the other side, just to see a lush green meadow, with a dry stone river running through it. She managed the stones as quickly as she could, then continued running through the meadow, following the sound of the train.

As she ran through the meadow, she spied the train tracks and ran toward them, as the whistling became louder and more regular. Suddenly, she became aware that she was looking for a hill that she had not found, and a town that did not appear. She looked everywhere around her, but all she could see was a vast clearing, flat on all sides, encircled by trees and bisected by a train track. A red light on the fast-approaching train illuminated its number, "630," as the whistling became louder and more hoarse.

Chihiro suddenly realized that she was standing on the track, and dove out of the way as the train's noise became so loud that she could hardly stand it.

She fell to the ground with a thud, and her sheets wrapped around her as she dimly made out the time from her alarm clock: 6:30.

After turning it off, she took a moment to catch her breath.

Even a dream can seem terrifyingly real.


	2. Chapter 2: Thursday

It was Thursday, and Chihiro had something up her sleeve. Yui tried to coax it out of her, but Chihiro was being especially catty this day of all days. Chihiro was all too eager to change the subject and discuss algebra more eagerly than ever, which only made her condition all the more maddening to Yui. By the end of the day, it seemed that Yui would positively have rowed a boat to the Moon by herself to just find out what was bugging Chihiro.

"Nothing!" exclaimed Chihiro, for not less than the hundredth time that day.

"It doesn't look like nothing from where I've been sitting," said Yui inquisitively.

"Why?" asked Chihiro. "I've been paying attention. I answered several questions correctly today. What looks like something?"

Yui couldn't deny that. Chihiro had been especially attentive today. And by all accounts, she was acting perfectly normal: but that didn't change the fact that something was definitely different about Chihiro today, and Yui knew it.

"Okay, then. If you won't tell me..." Yui struggled to regain her usual attitude of "if you won't tell me then I won't drag it out of you," but today this took quite some doing. Unlike Chihiro's mother, Yui didn't have to ask if a boy were the issue; she would have known. In a school where they spent a lot of the day together and even shared a locker assignment, Chihiro would simply have been unable to hide a secret like that from Yui. "Are we still going to the park? My brother's team is playing soccer today."

Chihiro's expression changed to an unreadable smile. They would often go to the park nearby on days when Yui's older brother had soccer games. Yui was the second of five kids, and liked getting away from the chaos that sometimes reigned at her house. Chihiro's house, having only one child resident, was often a place of refuge. "Sure, why not?" agreed Chihiro. "But let me stop by my house first."

On the way to Chihiro's house, something was definitely up. Had it not been that Yui was doing her best not to notice, and finally succeeding for the first time that day, she would have noticed the purposeful stride Chihiro took, and the way she seemed to simply be absent. Yui, blissfully ignoring the situation, said two words for every step they took the whole way to Chihiro's blue house. It was the sort of conversation where Chihiro could get away perfectly with not paying the slightest bit of attention, and that suited Chihiro perfectly because, on this afternoon, Chihiro had not the slightest bit of attention to pay. Despite eating nearly nothing at lunch, which had been by far the clearest sign of her uneasiness, she suddenly wished her stomach were less full than it was.

It was time for a decision. Chihiro had struggled with the decision all the school day, putting it off as she dove into her studies with a furious resolve not seen from her yet this year. But "ignore" remained an option no longer. She had to decide, and her fate would rest on her decision. Chihiro resolved not to take the path. _Sometimes,_ she reasoned, _it_ _is simply better to let good memories stay where they are._

Yui and Chihiro reached her house just as Yui finished the punch line of a good joke she had heard that week. Chihiro did get the joke, and laughed at the most fortunate time.

The two girls quickly dismissed themselves, and they dropped their things off in Chihiro's bedroom. As they crested the edge of the hill to start their descent, Chihiro asked Yui, "Did you know you can actually see the soccer field from here?"

"Really? Show me!" Yui looked in the direction that Chihiro indicated. "I can't see anything, just grass."

Chihiro indicated, as she joined Yui in attempting to discern the soccer field. When she finally located it, she told Yui, "There's no one there."

Yui groaned. "Oh, that's right... this is the week that their school is off for fall break."

Chihiro laughed, "And you're always scolding *me* for not paying attention?"

Yui laughed along as they continued down the embankment. Suddenly Chihiro froze. "What's wrong?"

Chihiro said nothing in response, but only pointed at a torii leaning against a thick tree, and indicated the dirt path they were standing on.

Yui tried, but she was completely unable to make out Chihiro's expression.

"Do..." Chihiro began.

"Could... " She trailed off yet again.

"I remember that conversation! We had it the other day!" joked Yui.

Chihiro just stared at Yui, with an expression that thoroughly said, "not amused."

"Sorry..." said Yui.

"It's okay," said Chihiro. "It's just that the day we moved here, we..." As Chihiro indicated the path, she and Yui started slowly to walk down it. "Our family got lost. Dad took this road, which as of right here isn't much of a road, and drove down to the end. It's just that..." She trailed off again, unsure of how to continue. Even though she and Yui had built up a great relationship, she wasn't sure that she could trust Yui with this revelation. Chihiro was so lost in thought about whether or not to tell Yui, that she nearly bumped into the red plaster wall.

"Careful!" said Yui. When Chihiro peeked inside, Yui asked, "You're not thinking of going in there, are you?"

Chihiro nodded uncertainly, and Yui said, "I thought you didn't like dank spaces like that? It's probably crawling with bugs," and Yui made hand motions, "and worms, and " - she tickled Chihiro - "SPIDERS!"

The two girls laughed, but Chihiro stopped laughing first, prompting Yui to do the same. Yui realized, "You really are thinking of going in there."

"Uh-huh. We went in there the day we moved here, and..." Chihiro paused - "...well, I lost something."

"And you want to go look for it?" Yui added with a touch of adventure.

"Yeah," agreed Chihiro, happy that her friend seemed to be agreeable to the romp through a dark tunnel, and happy that she had given her a reason so she didn't have to make one up.

"Okay!" said Yui. "Race ya!"

Chihiro was too startled to say much more, and she didn't need to: Yui was off like a shot. Although her father had cautioned the family about being careful last time they were there, it really seemed like a needless precaution: the ground wasn't uneven, and the tunnel floor was dry. Yui and Chihiro emerged breathless on the other side. Chihiro noted the irony that, the last time through, her family had raced _to_ the tunnel and _walked_ slowly through it.

Something about her dream from last night was all too familiar, however, and that was something she did not like. Chihiro did not want any reminders of that dream or its disastrous implications about what lie ahead. The more she tried to push the dream from her mind, the more forcefully it came back. The more forcefully it came back, the worse the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach became. The worse the sinking feeling, the more quickly she ran, and though Yui was usually a faster runner, Chihiro caught up with her just as they reached the exit.

On the other side, Chihiro was profoundly relieved to see the hills on which the town stood, instead of just flat ground. On the other hand, she was also unnerved: she, probably unlike anyone else in the world, knew where they were and the dangers inherent in dealing directly with kami.

"Wow, there's a lot built here!" said Yui when she reached the top of the hill. "What is this place? It seems to be empty."

"An abandoned theme park?" volunteered Chihiro, not so much because she believed it as that she didn't have anything else to say.

"And you were here before?" asked Yui, incredulous. Suddenly, a flash of insight prompted a grin. "Is this place what you've had on your mind all day?"

"Yes," said Chihiro.

"It's amazing! I wonder how come I've never heard of it," Yui mused. It was within walking distance of the school and both girls' houses, as they had just proved, and yet Yui wondered at never having heard of the place before. "It's so pristine! The grass is just high enough, but it's not overgrowing. It smells so fresh here, too - don't you think it's romantic?"

Chihiro rolled her eyes. In addition to _being_ a "hopeless romantic," Yui loved to _claim_ the title, and would use that as a descriptor whenever it was appropriate. Chihiro had to admit, though, that today it wasn't too far off.

"Yui?" asked Chihiro.

"Yes?"

"Do me a favor: don't ever tell anyone about this place."

Yui was obviously startled by that. Not that she had tons of friends with which to share it, or that she necessarily was the type to go and blab about everything she knew, but still the request struck her as incredibly odd. "Okay, I won't," agreed Yui.

"Thank you." Chihiro said it with such conviction that Yui resolved then and there never to tell anyone. Why, she didn't know, but she could tell that this was an issue of the utmost importance to her friend.

Chihiro and Yui explored the town, and Chihiro saw no signs of spirits. Chihiro, knowing it was early afternoon, felt quite safe from all ghastly apparitions: they only appeared at dusk, if they even would appear at all. She wasn't quite sure. Her experiences, even though she had lived them, were too fantastic to be real. On the one hand, she longed for confirmation of what she hoped was true, but some level of her consciousness simply wouldn't allow it. So she evaluated everything as if she was unsure of whether the place really was just an abandoned theme park with which her imagination had run away and devised all sorts of impossible adventures.

They soon passed the clock tower, and saw the bridge on their right. The bathhouse still sat on its perch, but neither the fountain nor the smokestack were showing any sign of movement. In fact, the part of Chihiro that questioned if her adventures were real began to assert itself with force, and she found herself wondering if the bathhouse contained anyone at all. She certainly didn't find the food stand which, in her memory, her parents had pigged out at. After gazing across the bridge and admiring the bathhouse, Chihiro and Yui turned back. Chihiro figured that it was probably getting close to 4 pm, and although dusk wasn't till after 5, she still didn't want to take any chances.

The whole time, she let Yui guide the conversation, although she did pipe up details here and there. However, she stuck to the mundane and natural, avoiding any mention of the supernatural. "I love these buildings!" Yui stated as they passed yet another row of them.

"They're just like all the others," said Chihiro, with a note of exasperation.

"But that's just the thing! Don't you see?" asked Yui. "No two buildings in this whole town are alike! They're not the cookie-cutter things you see going up today. These buildings have character!"

Chihiro had to admit to herself that, having only been through the town a few times, she had never stopped to admire the sheer beauty of the architecture. Between trying to convince her parents to leave, screaming, running for her life, and finally walking out with Haku, she realized that on none of those instances had paint jobs held even a passing interest. She was just beginning to admit that Yui might have some taste in art after all, when she saw the restaurant.

The color drained from Chihiro's face, and Yui immediately took notice. "What's wrong?"

Chihiro gathered her composure, steeled herself, and insisted, "Nothing." The restaurant, like everything else in the town, showed no signs of activity. A quick sniff of the air revealed nothing unusual, and certainly no irresistible food of the gods. Chihiro was just beginning to calm herself down when Yui interrupted her reverie.

"Okay, that's clearly not true. It's not 'nothing.' What is it?" asked Yui.

"I'm not going to tell you. And even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." Yui appeared to be even more discontented at this than at not initially having been told.

"We'd better get going. It's getting dark."

If Chihiro's face could get any paler, it suddenly did. "Run," whispered Chihiro, and she and Yui took off. There are times when you don't ask questions: you simply see the sincerity in someone's eyes and you jump off of the bridge if that's what they just told you to do. This was one of those times. Yui ran, and ran hard. It was a competition between the feet and the minds as to which could cause their hearts more work.

Chihiro had two sudden, ill-timed flashes of insight. The first, and most obvious, was that just as Haku had mentioned on the first day she met him, humans were not supposed to be here: this was, in fact, a place unlike any other. The second, and more chilling, was that it was only four in the afternoon in Japan. Suddenly the time that she had nearly failed to notice during her first visit made sense. In this place, wherever it was, the sun rose and set earlier. It was why she had had such a short, sleepless first night. It was why darkness had taken them by surprise that fateful day. And it was why, when it was all over, the family had exited the tunnel into an earlier time of day than when they had arrived. Not that they had traveled backwards in time, but that the early afternoon when they left had translated to a late morning arrival back in the human world.

And it was why, she suddenly heard a terrified scream from Yui - and knew exactly what it meant.


	3. Chapter 3: Captured!

Chihiro arrived seconds after Yui, and saw the river in time to avoid splashing in it herself, but not in time to prevent Yui from doing the same. With lightning-fast intuition, she quickly surveyed the landscape. Everything was in its place. It wasn't as dark as it had been the first time, when her mad dash through a totally alien town had taken much longer because she had found herself running in several directions and looking for her parents, but it was still dark enough that the river was too deep to ford and rising quickly.

Chihiro saw the faint lights of the town on the other shore becoming visible, and noticed that the staircase they were on, for the moment, was empty. Chihiro realized that it was quite probable that they had been seen by absolutely no one. One more moment's scanning revealed a familiar hiding place. Chihiro entreated Yui to be quiet, and the two of them stole quickly to the grass yard behind one of the many restaurants on the main thoroughfare.

At this moment, Chihiro finally admitted to herself what had been going on all year: it _was_ a boy, just not one from school. It wasn't the place itself; a bathhouse where she had been terrified and enslaved had no innate charm that she should desire to return to it. It was a certain someone that she had longed to see. And now, just as she realized this, she suddenly wished more earnestly than ever that he would suddenly show up and rescue her a second time.

Very soon, she could make out the figure of someone crossing the hill. But it was not one person, but two. And it was two of the last people she could have wished to see: one of them was a giant frog; the other, the manager.

"But why here? Why now?" asked the frog.

"Are you questioning orders?" demanded the manager.

"No." The giant frog sighed. "But I'd at least like to know why we're..." A sharp look from the manager cut him off, but then the manager stopped, too. The frog sniffed the air.

Chihiro tucked herself and Yui closer into the walls. If it had been eyesight they were up against, their hiding place just might have worked. However, they were not up against eyes, but the frogs' notoriously keen senses of smell.

"I smell humans!" declared the frog as he started in their direction. Chihiro and Yui pressed into the wall, as if trying to completely disappear.

"Humans again? I thought that Yubaba had sealed that door with her strongest spells."

"Don't ask me how they got here, all I know is that" - he put a finger on Chihiro's head - "they got here."

"I'll take them to Yubaba," sighed the manager.

The frog nodded his assent, as he backed away and covered his sensitive nose.

The manager, partly through hand motions, partly through grabbing of arms, stood the two girls up and forced them to march toward the hill over which they he just come.

"The bathhouse is this way," indicated the frog, pointing towards the street.

"Don't you think I know that?" demanded the manager. "The last time humans came, though, they caused such a terrible stench in the town that we could smell it for weeks! This time, rather than parading anyone through the main streets, Yubaba insisted that they be brought around the back, behind the pig barns."

The frog said nothing more, and disappeared in the direction of the restaurants.

"This way," commanded the manager gruffly. Chihiro and Yui exchanged frightened glances, completely unsure of what came next.

Chihiro noticed something that complicated the situation even further: She could see through Yui. Because of the way in which they were being marched, however, Yui seemed more concentrated on the ground than on herself, and certainly showed no signs of noticing. If the manager kept up his relatively easy manner with them, she might not notice at all until it was too late.

As they went down past the pig barns, more towards the direction of the railroad tracks than towards the bathhouse, Chihiro finally got up her nerve. "Pardon me, sir, but we don't seem to be headed towards the bathhouse at all."

The reply came back, "Well, were you really that eager to see my sister?" Zeniba's face turned and looked toward them from where the manager's face had been. "I saw you coming, you know. But I doubt my sister did: she has more important things to worry about. That frog got in the way, though. You wouldn't believe how inquisitive he was as to what I, the manager, was doing all the way out there!" Zeniba laughed. "But after the memory charm I used on him, I don't think he'll remember what he was doing out there either, let alone who showed up."

Chihiro interrupted: "Zeniba, thank you so much, but did you happen to bring anything to eat?"

Zeniba replied, "Yes, I anticipated that," and gave a subtle wink to Chihiro.

Yui had to be coaxed to accept the food, but Zeniba's grandmotherly mannerisms, coupled with Chihiro's apparent trust for her, soon ruled the day. Yui's condition improved, and she returned to being fully solid, without having apparently noticed any different.

"You did not touch the bridge, I trust?" asked Zeniba.

"No, we stayed off of that," Chihiro assured her.

"Good. That would have sounded the alarm, I'm sure! But that brings me to a strange point: how did you ever get back here?"

"We came in through the same tunnel as before."

"The old train station, across the river?" Chihiro nodded. "That was the only way I thought was accessible, too. But since the last time, Yubaba's put a powerful spell on it. I've kept an eye on it anyhow, just in case you or anyone else came back. I couldn't figure out how someone would get through, only that someone had broken through the spell, and that they were coming here. It had to be you."

"Me?"

"Since Haku left her apprenticeship, and since you left the realm, she used the strongest spell she had to seal that gateway. It's the only gateway we know of through which humans can pass. But you know what's funny about the strongest spells?" Chihiro shook her head. "They have the strangest weaknesses, and it's usually love." Zeniba laughed out loud at this. "I wonder if my sister was counting on you forgetting your experience, or chalking it up to childhood imaginings? No matter, it's done now. And it's a good thing, too. You couldn't have come at a better time for Kohakunushi."

"Who is Kohakunushi? And who are you? And where are we?"

Zeniba and Chihiro exchanged worried glances at the realization that Yui needed to be caught up on quite a bit.

Zeniba responded, "Chihiro and I will explain most of that to you later on tonight. But as for where we are, we're at my house!" Zeniba clicked the door open. "Come in, I'll make tea and supper for all of us."

Chihiro asked in amazement, "How did we get here so fast?"

Zeniba smiled. "I'm a witch, remember? Did you really need to ask?"

Once they had settled into Zeniba's kitchen with tea, and Yui calmed down a little, Chihiro began telling the story of her adventure for the second time in as many days as they ate.

Although Yui's expression seemed to indicate that she'd rather not believe what she was hearing, the fact that she'd already experienced the impossible several times that day seemed to lend a bit of credence to Chihiro's otherwise impossible tale, and she was certianly more accepting than Chihiro's mother had been. At first, she interrupted the narrative with phrases of disbelief, like "You're serious?" and "Really?", but as the tale dragged on, Yui became engrossed and started asking more contextual questions. When Chihiro started describing Kaonashi, Zeniba took the opportunity to make the introduction. Before this, Kaonashi had wisely been instructed to not greet the newcomer just yet. As the tale unfolded, Yui asked some questions about the details of the story, and when it was all over, she sat dumbfounded.

Zeniba watched the whole thing with mild amusement, and when it was over, she added her bit. "Chihiro, you've never told me all of that. It's incredible how you made it through all of that, even with how rough your introduction to our world was!" She regarded Yui. "It seems that your introduction to this world was downright easy next to Chihiro's!"

Yui laughed nervously, still completely unsure how to process half of what she had just heard. "At least you haven't stolen my name or made us sign working contracts yet!" She then looked around nervously, as if she was afraid that she may have just said the wrong thing.

It was all right, and Chihiro and Zeniba both laughed at the comment. Yui finally joined in and had a good laugh along with them, as a few tears escaped her eyes.

"But there's one thing I don't understand," asked Chihiro. "Why didn't I start to disappear?"

"That _is_ a good question," replied Zeniba, sipping her tea. "But we've had enough questions and stories for one night. The best thing for you two right now," and she put her teacup down, "is a good night's sleep. Kaonashi set up the loft for you both while Chihiro was telling the first part of her story." She indicated the loft, and the access ladder.

Yui still hardly knew what was going on, let alone how to process it. Chihiro, on the other hand, decided that sleep would be the perfect thing. Although she had no way of knowing what time it was, it had gotten thoroughly dark outside, and the day's exertions had left both of the girls more than ready for bed regardless of the real time of day.

Chihiro and Yui said the usual goodnight pleasantries to Zeniba, and they were soon sound asleep.


End file.
